Shh Noel! You'll ruin the secret!

This is not amusing. It is sick. Very sick. The enthronement of ignorance.
It is astonishing that these people are, apparently, not embarrassed to spew out this screed -
that they say it to one's face showing no sign of awareness of the bizzarrity of their pronouncements.
It is as if they are somehow deluded into the belief that what they say makes sense
and that the world is waiting, rapt, for this Truth to fall graciously from their lips.

These people are the modern version of those who at the time of the Reformation went
about destroying statues, stained glass, organs, etc. The object of their iconoclasm now
is our musical heritage, the dismantling of our cultural patrimony. And. lie of all lies, they couch their
venomous philosophy in the cool language and tone of what fain would be a legitimate intellectual and cultural achievement.
What unspeakable arrogance that they assume that they are doing what 'people want'.... that they, the self-styled harbingers of a fancied new cultural paradigm, will shovel it down people's throats (ever so nicely) whether they really want it or not.

I should balance this somewhat in defense of the site. I attended an evangelical college for a semester (and left after that due to issues unrelated to the college itself, which is exceptional) and the organ was used perhaps three times per semester in their DAILY chapel services. And yet the "contemporary" service was only once a week. So what did they do for the "traditional" services? You're looking at it. They had a pianist play the hymns in a popular style. And I will admit, it was pretty "sweet" (if you will excuse the terminology of my generation). What's more, the congregation of young students sang them even a bit louder than the "praise" songs, and they sang them WELL - most students in harmony! And again, the pianist and his arrangements were really top notch. It even had some air of dignity to it - although I would say it's far below the Catholic Mass, it certainly would be an improvement in any evangelical worship service. I believe our esteemed colleague Francis does something similar at his church for the "praise band".

So let me make the following points:

- If you are Catholic, and only work in Catholic environs, this is wholly irrelevant to you. The "praise music" fad isn't making any major headway into Catholic churches. This guy doesn't advertise his music for Catholic churches (believe it or not, there ARE people on the internet who aren't Catholic).

- On those lines, note that he's not trying to show stodgy old organists how to get hymns into the EF Mass. He's trying to show (protestant) churches which only have "praise" music how they can incorporate traditional forms into their worship. I APPLAUD this! Let me repeat for emphasis: I APPLAUD the work this man is doing. He is, fundamentally, a traditionalist. He sees great value in the noble texts and timeless melodies of the protestant hymn tradition, and wants to present that in a way that will remove stumbling blocks preventing them from being used in protestant churches. No, he's not going to get organs, choirs, and incense back into protestant churches, but he is rejecting and encouraging others to reject the chronological snobbery which says that only those things written in the past 20 years are relevant. Good on him for the spirit of what he's doing.

- On the other hand, if I work in a protestant church again, for the love of God, PLEASE don't tell my pastor about these!

If you are Catholic, and only work in Catholic environs, this is wholly irrelevant to you. The "praise music" fad isn't making any major headway into Catholic churches.

In general, you're right.

It's interesting. The Southern Baptist congregation I sometimes pray with (family reasons) is very much split along the traditional/contemporary lines. There are two vastly different cultures in the same congregation, and they all know it. Many there lament this even as they can't muster the energy to do anything about it. There is a sense of fatalism about it.

There are indeed moves to install a PW approach on at least some Catholic college campuses, Gavin. It's also a fad some people I know would dearly love to see mainstreamed, and they are eager and working to support it. They simply don't care about any Catholic vs. Protestant divide. Peace, love, and unity, baby. "It's all good," etc.

I think it's wise to have some counter-arguments prepared.

Obligatory aside: I kind of like Chapman's hymn arrangements as parish picnic music. In a tent, outside, big tables of lasagna, grilling steaks and vegetables... I'd be amused, and its appearance there would be a clear association of that kind of music with events outside the temple.

Hymns don't groove, and therefore don't really blend with today's praise and worship sets.

Really? I never guessed.

Clearly Mr. Chapman is a "thinking-man's" praise band leader.

Perhaps the Hymn Society of America can help him out with this project.

Or not.

Shopping in the South USA is not always pleasurable for church musicians. Captain D's and Dairy Queen both feature 101 String Style arrangements of hymns, 24 hours a day. So does Hobby Lobby. When the secular world and sacred world are blended, the sacred is no longer....sacred.

I'm really glad the Lutherans have not messed with their hymns.

http://www.lutheran-hymnal.com/brass/bq250.mid
http://www.lutheran-hymnal.com/contemp/rk039.mid

[sound of applause]

I live in the South and am myself the product of generations of Calvinist inbreeding (resulting in occasional fits of Jansenism after my conversion). And there are few songs I like better than Beulah Land and There's a Fountain.

I'm also a freelance harpist and we do lots of "hymns with a twist," as one of my colleagues calls them. Again, it's a bridge between the classical foursquare hymns and the pop styles. And it creates a generational bridge as well.

Speaking of chant, recorded chant is the background music of choice in churches around the world - prior to services, during open hours, etc. I had a bride request recorded chant be played before her wedding because she thought "it would help people behave and get in the mood." I told her I'd give her chant on the organ and she was mollified.

I agree, that "dumbing down" hymns is not a good practice.

TRADITIONAL

I prefer always to play EXCELLENT arrangements for hymns on the organ. I am a purist, after all. I stress the word 'excellent' because, for some mind-boggling reason, the big three seem to think that they can outcompose the authentic arrangements by Bach, Wesley, etc., and they can "contemporize?!" them with their "newer, bigger, better" arrangements, than the ones that are in the 1940, or other excellent sources. What a gross display of musical incompetence! By the way, they don't have a clue about creating guitar arrangements for hymns! So I totally understand why the "SECRET" is somewhat successful.

We use WLP. Whenever I run across a "rearranged arrangement", (which is far too often) I immediately default to the old standard harmonizations in the 1940 or Collegeville, or some other excellent traditional hymn source, and many times improvise my own. Not that it is impossible to compose good new arrangements, but I have not found good new arrangements yet (at least not coming out of our CPH (Catholic Publishing Houses)! These people just don't understand how to compose good harmnizations with good voice leading. What's With!


CONTEMPORARY

(per Gavins prodding) I have to comment on the P&W phenomenom [3 a: an exceptional, unusual, or abnormal person, thing, or occurrence] since I lead the ensemble.

I took over the P&W group when I arrived here last year. I began introducing all types of music using the guitar and the piano as the accompaniment. The organ was totally foreign to that particular liturgy. I played it one Sunday early on, and was nearly burned at the bench. We also have a bass player, another guitar, a flute and irregularly, a percussionist.

My strategy has been to reintroduce the traditional repertoire into the liturgy where only praise and worship music existed. That particular liturgy had strayed so far from the norm that most of the music was no longer even the Catholic Contemporary music that is found in the big three, but was mostly from the protestant sector. The music had for the most part departed from the thematic liturgical year. It had an entrenched (segregated) attendance, mostly families with children. (God Save The Progeny!)

So I immediately began taking the traditional hymns and even some chant, and arranged it for the musicians. One thing happened almost immediately. The singers [and this is not a sexist comment, just an observation] who happen to have been all women lost all interest and could not move outside the very narrow style of P&W music and left the group.

The musicians were somewhat relieved and actually excited that we were venturing into more challenging musical territory and took on a new interest in the music. I try to include everyone's suggestions (among the musicians) into the selections for each week. Our repertoire has expanded to include:

Hymn of Joy
Gift of Finest Wheat
Jesus Christ, Bread of Life
O Sacred Head Surrounded
O filii et filiae
Regina Caeli
Attende Domini
Parce Domine
Alleluia, Alleluia, Let the Holy Anthem Rise
The Strife is O'er
Etc.

You get the idea.

We are nine months into this venture, and our last liturgy for the year is this week. I am not sure it will continue in the fall. If I am reading it right, the whole experience for almost everyone is that it is quite anemic. The musical trads don't know when to break into parts and the musical progs are wondering if they have shown up for the 'right' liturgy.

I also play guitar with the Spanish congregation once in a while, and I must admit that the guitar is more naturally aligned with their musical culture. However, I have also got them singing hymns too! I even had the Spanish and English choirs singing the Pange Lingua in procession (albeit in Spanish and English) for Holy Thursday. We did manage to conclude with the Tantum Ergo in Latin however!

What is very interesting is that I have the elementary choir learning Gregorian Chant and polyphony. They just love it! We also have a schola cantorum which sings (exclusively and unaccompanied) the GC. I also compose and arrange pieces for all of the ensembles at various times.

It has been a true challenge to meet everyone where they are and bring them further along into the better music while slowly letting the dreck (as one of my colleagues calls it) fall away.

I still firmly believe that the folk guitar does not have a place in the liturgy. However, the classical guitar in the hands of a pro can truly be a wonderful addition (ADDITION, not REPLACEMENT)! Trackers Rule!

I think the underlying difference between sacred and secular music is precisely the "beat". From another thread )maybe even elsewhere) hymns in 3/4 sounding too much like a waltz, for example. A waltz is a dance - it needs that strong downbeat, even if the succeeding beats are somewhat irregular as in the Viennese style. But look at the harmonies and inner parts - it's mostly 1 chord per measure, with little movement of the inner parts. The entire piece revolves around the rhythm.

Compare "Let There Be Peace on Earth" to Cyril Taylor's hymntune "Abbott's Leigh". You could probably dance to the latter, but you'd have to really think about it! The inner part constant moving makes each beat important on its own. The harmonies on the down-beats is probably more consonant, with dissonances happening as you proceed through each measure. It's much like arsis/thesis in chant - it keeps everything flowing - smoothly.

In 4/4, "Aurelia" and "Onward, Christian Soldiers" might come off a bit march-like because they lack some of that inner movement. But certainly most of the 4/4 hymntunes keep everything moving forward because of the movement of the inner parts. This constant movement is why occasional extra beats at cadences work so well. No, they're not written this way, but it's the way they work best. Look at "Melita". How can anyone sing straight through 48 1/4-notes without a single break? Now listen to the people who made the hymn famous - those who use it every Sunday at the close of their worship, who gave it's modern name - the Midshipmen at the Naval Academy. They insert an extra beat on the cadence of each pair of phrases. That would never fly in a "march" - but here it works wonderfully. And Catholics actually seem more comfortable than some other denominations - why? - because we are used to the interplay of duple and triple neumes in chant.

And in both cases you have the hymn texts - that's what hymns is all about. This is the real secret of hymnody - and it cannot be replicated by guitar groups in any way, shape, or form.

Perhaps what is really askew in the matter which originated this conversation is context. It isn't, after all, as if some people on given ocassions are not going to indulge in spoofing what would otherwise be quite sober. And, depending on one's disposition at the time, one may or may not be amused to some degree or other. So it is (perhaps) with the treatment of hymns which is our topic here. If we heard them done this way on, say, the Garrison Kielor (sp?) show we would realise that it was a spoof, that the manner of performance was totally out of character and, thus, was or was not humourous. But, in the serious and sacred context of liturgy we do not expect to be amused and are presented with what could only, if at all, be appreciated as amusement - with what is thus, in its proper and sacred context, a serious breach of piety, an obvious, utterly tasteless degredation of a sacred musical language. So, having said that, I still doubt that I would be amused... regardless of context. There are things in life that we are inspired to set aside for sacral purposes and do not under any circumstances profane. Our sacred music is one of them. It is, not wholly unlike the inviolable sacred vessels used in the sanctuary, a sacred vessel for our words of worship - beyond profanation.

gavin: "The "praise music" fad isn't making any major headway into Catholic churches."

Praise music is indeed making headway.

Think about the growing number of LifeTeen parishes.
A survey of Google search result content shows praise music in the worship sets
that warm up the crowds before the Mass. This trains a generation to expect it.

Think about filler/bumper music on EWTN-related radio stations.
Praise music fragments must be getting selected because they are somehow
familiar to listeners.

Think about praise music CDs played and sold in Catholic bookstores.

With all these inputs, a large number of people probably expect to hear it at Mass,
and they do hear it.